Saturday, 31 July 2010

The Golden City - John Twelve Hawks - Book 3 The Fourth Realm Trilogy

Though this book was much anticipated it took me 8 months to read it. Now to be honest I read it in three sittings. The reason it took so long is that when the first book, The Traveler came out 5 years ago, it was one of the best fiction books I had read in more than ten years. Once I started the book, I realized the series would end, I have heard nothing about more books by John XII Hawks, so I did not want the story to end. Then when I sat down and started it again I raced through to the finish. I plan on reading the whole series again soon.

No one really knows who John Twelve Hawks is, his interviews use a voice modulator, he supposedly has never met with his publisher, and only communicates electronically or through a satellite phone. That mystery was intriguing when the first book came out, and rumors have abounded about who he might be. But I do not think that really matters, he writes under a pen name and wants to keep his privacy. What matters is that he is an excellent story teller and has crafted an excellent dystopian trilogy. If you have not read the first books, I highly recommend them.

A battle rages between two brothers Michael and Gabriel Corrigan, but also between two groups, the Brethern who want to control every person on the planet and will use almost any means to achieve that control, and a resistance movement lead my Gabriel Corrigan, a traveler who can leave this plane of existence and travel to other realms, and his Harlequin guardians. The Harlequins have protected the Travelers for generations. Historically the Harlequins stayed out the of Travelers plans and only protected them from the Breathern who want to hunt them down and kill them. Now Michael Corrigan has usurped control of the Breathern and wants to control the whole world and use his power as a Traveler to plan and achieve that control. Gabriel and an interconnected groups of different people do not want to allow that to happen.

The world is being turned upside down, governments are using fear to control people and systematically strip their freedom. There is a vast machine of security camera's, email sniffing programs, facial recognition … growing in our world, and there are dark forces behind the scenes pulling all those resources together into an electronic prison for each of us.

Michael and Gabriel have both experienced the other realms but both come back with a different vision for mankind. Who will win this battle for mankinds hearts and minds.

The story has a fast pace, and a number of surprising twists in the series storyline. It also leave the ending open to a continuation and a few interpretations. One of the best things about the series is that it will cause readers to ask questions! Questions about what really matters in life, how intentional they are about how they live, about freedom and purpose in life. It is a great book and I can only hope for more from the author.